manitoubass2

Thanks for all the input OFC community, always appreciated. I'm heading out in 30 minutes, and the wind has picked up considerably. We are now looking at a storm front moving in later tonight, so.... Might be a good thing, might be a bad thing. But it's all apart of becoming a better pike angler, right? lol I've landed lots of big pike before, but always either bass or walleye fishing. Whenever I target pike (which is rare until this year) I never seem to seal the deal on those darn toothies

lol, its a tourny. No different than the others I've fished in, lol. Well, 2 hours before I head out, hopefully we can land some today. Weather kicked up pretty good, might be a good thing

This is the best post of the day

Yeah, for sure. Keep in mind this is over a period of a few days

Yes sir. I tried a few frogs (although the water is cold). I see the frogs in the water so it was worth a try. I tried burning them in, tried a jerk/pause, jerk jerk pause, even popped the water, no takers. I tried a few top water crawfish baits I have from Storm. I used a clown subwalk which has worked great on other occasions. I tried a few shallow cranks as well, 1-2ft

I also used some Gulp minnows on various jigs, chart. and minnow colors. I tried gulp minnows on floating jigs as well for the first time, the action was awesome, I couldn't believe they didn't want it. The few decent ones came on flat rap firetiger, a shadalicious swimbait/jighead and a live minnow on a knuckle ball jig resting on bottom. Today I'll try some new things, see what happens

No, I can't see what they are eating. It's either some type of beetle, or it's the baby frogs. It's hard to tell since I broke my polarized glasses the other day. I actually did try some different jig/trailer combos yesterday. I was using Berkley craws black/red flake. Tried on a few different flippin jigs, black, black/green, black/blue, white/chart. I also tossed some spinner baits with/without trailers. some 4ft and some 6-8ft cranks, some flat raps, live bait/jigs

Hmmm. I'll have to try that. Thanks for the input

After a few days of watching pike in a local bay, and missing a few beauties, I'd be interested to see how the OFC'ers would approach this situation. It's a shallow bay, varying between 3ft deep to 15 ft deep. On the left, we have some vegitation and rocks, mainly shallow, with a small amount of current. To the right, we have a a slope, some overhanging trees, a tree half submerged, and a shallow sandbar to exit the bay. Current is a little heavier on this side, and is very close to a walleye spawning grounds. To the center, a drop of from 4ft to 12ft, rock and pebble bottom. Water levels are seasonably high, water is starting to clear, visibility is about 4-6 ft. Water temps are 43 degrees, slight wind from the west, south west. I can see the fish, and many of them are feeding on or just below the surface. I've put in a good 10-12 hours on this spot in the past two days, and just can't get them to take. I've searched the whole water column with different techniques, different baits, different retrieve speeds etc. And so far, not much luck. A few 25"ers but I can see fish in the 40" range, lol. anyhow, any help is much appreciated Submerged tree on the left side said bay is in the backround, we take huge walleye right of this bay Another beauty

I put some 832 on my sons rod the other day as well. Helps me spend less time retying his line from snags/weeds, lol

I've been using suffix 832 now for about 6 weeks on one rod. First up was 15lb, took me a few days to gather how nice it actually was, then had the wife go pick up some more. I forgot to tell her what test, lol, she returned home with 30lb, which is 8lb mono dia. I haven't lost a lure yet, and thats damn good for a month of continous use. It's very quite through the guides, it casts maybe 2 metres shorter than the same rod set up I have with 8lb mono on it. I haven't noticed any colour fade as of yet, but then again I'm not really all that concerned over the color. I will more than likely use this line on some of my other set ups that currently have power pro and spiderwire camo braid. Knot strength is great so far as well, no issues with fraying, the line sinks faster than other braids (although not quite like mono). Over all I'd say give it a try, it's never stopped an angler before! lol

I added some stuff to one of my many tackle boxes yesterday, lol. Some of them I've already used in the past (the rapala DT series baits), but I just recently got some clackin cranks, and the crankin raps. I've taken a few casts with them and I think they hold alot of promise. Also picked up some more 4.5" shadalicious swim baits. I love those things for bass and pike. I wanna try them on walleye this year as well. This tackle box is my "I'm not sure how/what I wanna fish today" lol, It's just a wide variety of baits mainly for Rainy River fishing. Some plastics These a deadly on a jig 8ft diving crank

Ahh, I see. Makes sense

Wow! That is amazing.

I see, my bad. I've obviously never used them so I'm not even sure of the difference, lol. Again, not hating, they're gorgeous pics for sure. Makes me wanna learn a little more about my camera, haha

My tackle storage changes all the time, depending on species, time of year, what lake/river etc. One thing I never change is terminal tackle, pliers etc. I find it easiest to buy some Plano boxes, divy up your bait accordingly, and add to your main tackle box when it gets called in the game. Keeps your main tackle box nice and tidy as well.

I'm not hating on it, it makes for some nice pics. Just curious as to why it's used so frequently

Great pics, even better fish! I'm jealous, don't get to fish those very often myself. Just a quick question, why do fly fisherman almost always have the reel in the pic??? Is it sort of bragging rights to catch on a fly instead of a spinning reel or baitcaster?

I was bored today after watching hockey and having some beers. I got to thinking in my downtime about an idea that may help alot of anglers, but also generate some posts from other board members, which is always a good thing. Ok, Here is the idea. Every week, we post up a body of water in Ontario. We post up the days time, conditions, etc, as well as one species of fish. Then members can chime in about what they would do to have a successful outing. The member could be vague, but emphasis would be put on being as detailed as possible. This way members of the board could "get into another anglers mind", so to speak. I think it would be an excellent learning tool. At the end of a pre-determined time frame, we could then vote on a member who had "the most helpful contributions", and that member would earn a prize package. Any thoughts? Ideas etc? Feel free to chime in Maybe I just had a few too many and this is actually a horrible idea? lol

I only use two outfits most of the time for walleye and bass. One is a 6ft. Kuffa blank with alot of backbone(not the best brand out there), and has a good flex in the tip. It's paired with a Quantum Energy PT E30, which works great, but is pretty costly. I use 8 pound mono on this rod and it's mainly used for vertical jigging. My go to rod is a 6'6" Kuffa blank, same as the other but a little less flex in the tip. It's multi versatile for jig retrieves, tossing spinner baits or even cranks, and this rod is paired with a Stradic CI4 2500, very nice reel. Spooled up with 30lb Sufix 832(would normally have 10-15lb, but the wife made a boo boo, lol). I prefer spinning reels to baitcasters, but thats just personal preference and fits my style(s) of fishing. I have plenty of set ups, but I only bring two rods with me usually, sometimes three if Im targeting a few different species throughout the day. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else suggests, but for me, I like to keep it simple. More time fishing, less time fiddling with rods/reels/baits,

It's just a fine correct? Not a criminal charge. There is no trial for a fine, just a meeting with the Crown more than likely. He'll record what you say and thats about it, it's not like you murdered someone, lol. More than likely the Crown will hear you out, reduce the fine, then you pay it. Thats about it

I lol'd at the Field and Stream, the FOX news of outdoors magazines. So funny

I'm not really sure there is away to stop this from happening? I've never heard, nor come across any info in relation to this topic. I think diligence and keeping the baits separated may be the only choice?? That being said, try to keep anything oil based away from plastics. At least in my experience, this damages soft baits very quickly. I few years back I had some lubricant leak into a plastic bag I had some chartuesse grubs in. I think it was an old WD-40 bottle, can't recall. But it bled the yellow color all over, and I could squish the grubs into a paste, almost like melted gummy worms. Nowadays I keep all my soft baits, scented/salted or not, in zip lock bags, and I never have any issues

Right now I'm a full time fisherman, lol. Hopefully I'll be back to work soon though Here is part of my office Here is the kitchen and here is the most important part of the office!

I think it's a good idea myself, but to compile the correct data to make the site credible would be a very hard task. Think about it, there are hundreds of thousands of lakes in ontario, and an already depleted MNR. If this project had a timeline, say like 10 years or so, and work in concert with anglers, I think it could eventually become a great resource. But it would take alot of work, and alot of volunteers.